Truman State heads to the Blue Grass State

Friday

Nov 1, 2013 at 12:13 PM

Bulldogs look to stay perfect in GLVC.

Truman State enters the final three games of their season still unbeaten in GLVC play as they have defeated all four of their new conference opponents. Things will change for the Bulldogs as they face the other top contenders in St. Joseph's and Indianapolis to close out the regular season. But before that they face possibly the most down program at the D-II level, Kentucky Wesleyan.

"We are playing a football team that is struggling. It is important that we come out ready to play early and hopefully have some momentum start to build for our last two games," said Truman State head coach Gregg Nesbitt.

KWC is 0-8 on the season and is facing the legitimate possibility of going 0-11. Things aren't getting better as the season goes on for the Panthers. They have lost to Quincy, 80-26, the same Hawks team that Truman shut out. They are coming off a loss to nationally-ranked UI last week, 52-0. Truman closes the season on the road against the Greyhounds.

The Bulldogs aren't overlooking the Panthers, but at the same time are using this week's contest as a chance to work out the kinks before they face the other top teams.

"There are three or four things in all three phases of the game that we are focusing on. We are not overlooking the Panthers because we are aware there are plenty of upsets every weekend," said Nesbitt.

One area the Bulldogs are looking to improve on is third down, both offensively and defensively.

"We are not overly pleased with our execution on third down on both sides of the ball. We need to decide offensively who we are and what type of plays we need to run given the yardage. That includes getting out of so many third and longs," said Nesbitt.

Truman has been either first or second in third down defense all but one season out of the last seven. This year they are squarely in the middle of the pack.

"We are not executing and playing with the speed we need to, we need to merge our pass rush with whatever coverage we are running," said Nesbitt.

Will Barness is a senior quarterback who has been through a lot adversity in his time at KWC, and is a player that Nesbitt has his defense focused on.

"They are pretty solid on offense. They are led by their quarterback and he has been beaten up this season and hasn't seen a lot of success over his career. So you have a lot of respect for a kid like that who has been around and has been beaten up all over the yard," said Nesbitt.

Defense is what has led the Bulldogs during their winning streak. Besides the shutout of QU in the conference opener, Truman has allowed a combined 35 points in their other three games, 21 of those against McKendree.

Truman makes their longest road trip of the conference season, as they will play in Owensboro, Kent., for the first time in the history of the program Saturday at 1 p.m.